A group of law enforcement officials is urging the Minnesota Legislature to improve the state’s database on people who are disqualified from owning or purchasing firearms. They’re spotlighting the issue following the shootings in Connecticut and the Accent Signage killings in Minneapolis.

MNN reports Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson saying no one who has been judged mentally ill and violent by the courts should ever be able to buy a hand gun.

Law enforcement officials add they should have ready access to mental health court records which are already public, so they can respond in the best way to emergency situations.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rick Stanek says gun control alone will not solve the problem — that offenders with mental health issues should have better access to treatment.

Sue Abderholden with the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness stresses that most people with mental illness are not violent.